Transformers Armada: Sasha's Adventure
by SylverMage
Summary: A young girl is introduced into the Transformer's world and the fight for the minicons...
1. Anything but Ordinary

_A/N ^_^ This is the TF: Armada fic that I came up with after watching TF: Armada for a while. It's my first fic, and it's not great, but anyway, it's posted, so...make me happy and read it? Comments, constructive critisms and what-not are welcome. Heck, flame me, if you really think it sucks. Just please, tell me why it sucks, so I can get better^^ Forgive me if the spacing is a little messed up, I'm still figuring out how to do it right._

_   
Thanks. Oh, and 'Vione' is pronouced Vee-Oh-Nay, okay?   
  
_

**Disclaimer**: I don't own TF Armada, and I don't pretend to. *glares at Transformers lawyers* Now GO AWAY!!! *lawyers walk away, grumbling* All I own are my characters, Sasha, Saria, and Spinout.

            "Heads up!" Sasha Vione cried, enjoying the thrill as her dirt bike hit another small hill. The wind tossed her blonde braided hair, causing even more strands to come loose. Behind her, second dirt bike roared in challenge. Hitting the same hill, Saria, Sasha's best friend, laughed as her green and blue dirt bike caught up to Sasha's blue and white one. Both girls pulled up on a rise, lifting their goggles off to rest on top of their helmets. Saria took her helmet off, shaking her shoulder length brown hair out.

            "Time to head back?" she asked, quieting the motor of her bike.

"Nah. We've got a few hours of daylight left, might as well use 'em."

            "Or, we could go home and you could finish your essay..." the brunette trailed off as Sasha rolled her eyes and grinned.

            "I've got all night to finish that. I'm almost done anyway. I know _you_ had yours done for days."

            "I finished it early, so what?" Saria said indignantly.

            "Oh, nothing," Sasha said, "It's just you ALWAYS finish so early!"

            "And you always finish stuff the night before it's due. Point being?"

            "That I wanna stay out while the daylight lasts," Sasha said, "You can go if you want to..." Even as she said it, she knew Saria would say no.

            "If you're staying out, I might as well, too, " Saria said, then grinned. "It's not my essay, anyway."

            "Yay!" The blonde's eyes took on a mischievous look. "Shall we go cliff-jumping today?"

            Saria's voice of reason returned. "Ohhh no, you nearly scrapped your bike last time, you idiot!"

            "Oh, come on, it wasn't THAT bad," Sasha said airily, "I just scratched the paint a little."

"You hit your back tire on the edge and nearly ran into the rocks on the other side!! You call that 'scratching the paint'?!"

"Uh, yeah...maybe," Sasha pulled her goggles down again.

            "You just got it fixed! Sasha, don't you _dare_." Saria said warningly. Sasha turned long enough for Saria to see the challenging in her eyes and hear her say in a rebellious tone, 

            "Watch me."

            "Sasha!" Saria yelled after her friend as she sped off down the rise and towards the broken ground. "I'll run her into the rocks _myself_ when I catch up," she muttered, putting her helmet back on and tuning her engine to life again before chasing after the other girl.

            Sasha's eyes grew icy with determination as she neared the cliff _'This time,'_ she thought, _'I'm going to clear it completely.'_  She almost had last time, too. If only her back tire hadn't hit the edge of the other cliff. 

_'And I did *not* almost smash into the rocks.'_

The jump loomed ahead. Her thoughts were taken from the cliff, however, when the ground began to shake.

"What the--?" Sasha yelped as a few rocks tumbled from their place and crashed to earth beside her. She pulled up short and looked around. "I-it's an earthquake!" she gasped. The sound of a second engine caused her to turn in her seat.

            "Sash, we'd better get out of here!" Saria said, and this time, Sasha listened to the voice of reason.__

            "Yeah, I think you're right," she nodded, turning her bike around. The two girls raced from the cliffs, heading back towards flatter ground. As they got further away, the rumbling became less and less strong, until it vanished completely. They stopped on the outskirts of the plain they'd been dirt-biking in. 

Sasha removed her helmet and tucked it under her arm. "What the heck was that?" she asked.

            Saria shrugged. "I don't know."__

            "Kind of freaky, huh? I've never seen such a short earthquake...if that's what it was," Sasha added.

            "Yeah..." Saria seemed uneasy, "Listen, I've gotta get home. See you tomorrow?"

"Sure. Keep an eye out for anything about that quake, okay?"

            Saria gave Sasha a thumbs-up, then turned and drove away. Sasha watched for a minute, then looked back to where the earthquake had been.

            "I wonder..." she began out loud, and glanced around. It could be dangerous, she knew, going back to where the ground had been rumbling. "Aw, what's the harm in just checking it out? The essay can wait," Sasha said, placing her helmet on her head again, "Besides, I'll be quick."

            Five minutes later, Sasha stood at the exact cliff she'd been at before. The rocks were still, and the ground looked relatively untouched. 

            "Huh. There's nothing here," the blonde noted, climbing off the bike. She set her helmet on the handlebars and brushed a few stray hairs out of her eyes. "Not a thing." 

            Curiosity still peaked, Sasha left her bike and began climbing down the slope to the valley below. "Maybe something happened down there..." she mused, gingerly making her way to a flatter surface, where she could walk. Down here, it was easy to see that the ground had been disturbed, and recently.

            "Wow. What the hey went on here?" 

There was black stuff on some of the rocks, and a lot of the ground had indents in it, like something really heavy had been on it. What startled her most was that some of the surrounding cliffs looked like they had been blown apart, and they were black, too.

            "Well, this is weird."

Without warning, a jet zipped past overhead, alarmingly close. It vanished just as fast.

_ 'What was-'  _Before the girl could finish that thought, she heard an explosion. The ground began to tremble again.

"Holy heck," she gasped, "What's going on?!"

Another blast flashed, closer this time. Sasha yelped as the cliff beneath her crumbled, and she tumbled head over heels down the slope. Pieces of rock fell down around her as she landed with a crash at the bottom.

 "Ouch…" she groaned, "That wasn't fun."

The jet screamed across the sky again, this time accompanied by a helicopter.

"Are we under attack or something?" Sasha asked aloud, bewildered. A huge rumbling caught her attention, and she turned to see an enormous tank roll up a few hundred feet away.

 "Transform!" it yelled, and in seconds, a giant robot stood in the tank's place. Sasha's jaw hit the ground.

 "I'm dreaming, right? This isn't real," she said, and pinched herself. It hurt. And the big mech was still there. To top it all off, it was glaring at her. Instinctively, Sasha backed up, only to fall over her own feet. _'Holy crap, holy crap, holy CRAP!' _ her mind screamed over and over. The robot reached for her, its big hand casting a shadow over the girl. Sasha was too stunned to move. 

Suddenly, a tremendous crash was heard and the hand was withdrawn. A second robot stood there, this one red, blue and silver, with piercing yellow eyes. The first one growled, obviously unhappy at this new robot's arrival.

"Optimus Prime!" it said.

_'Oh my gosh, it talked. I'm officially freaked out now,'  _Sasha thought, her traitorous body still refusing her brain's commands to move.

The red robot's gaze was frosty as he stood in front of the former tank. "Still picking on humans, Megatron? Why not pick on someone your own size?"

The one called Megatron drew himself up to his full (and considerable) height, and without another word, the two titans clashed. Metal strained as they clasped hands and began a battle of strength, each trying to force the other back.

Sasha looked up at the two massive beings fighting in front of her and decided this was not a good place to be. Finally, she lurched to her feet and ran for shelter near the cliff she fallen from. Pressing her back up against the rock, the girl tried to convince her heart rate to return to normal; it felt like her heart was going to jump right out of her chest. She spotted the helicopter again; it was firing at a yellow sports car that was tearing up the ground, dodging the blasts that exploded all around it. The red jet Sasha had seen before landed and changed, just as the tank had, into a robot. He pulled some sort of sword from his wing and faced off against an orange robot with a crane on his shoulder. An emergency SUV drove up behind them.

Something else thundered across the sky. Sasha looked up, and her mouth fell open for the second time that day.

"A-a_ space shuttle?! "_ she gasped. Indeed, a white space shuttle traded fire with a fighter jet. From where she stood, hidden, Sasha could see some of the giants were emblazoned with a red mark, while others displayed a strange violet symbol.

"Vehicles turning into giant robots and then duking it out. Yeah, I definitely want to go home now," Sasha decided, and turned, glancing up the cliff. It didn't look like an easy climb, but considering her options, she'd take what she could get. Ignoring the sounds of blaster fire and strains and grunts of combat around her, Sasha started her ascent. The ground still shook, sending rock and dirt in showers down on her. Hauling herself over the ledge, she looked around wildly for her dirt bike. Spotting it only a short distance away, unharmed, the girl heaved a sigh of relief. She began running towards it. A minute later, she tripped over something and went sprawling.

"Owww...." she muttered, "What did I trip on now? I'm not _this_ much of a klutz..." Her eyes fell on a piece of something green sticking up out of the ground. Crawling on her hands and knees, she made her way over to the green something-or-other. "What's this?"

Sasha tried to lift it, but it was stuck fast to the ground. Curiosity getting the better of her again, she began to dig it out. When she'd cleared the dirt away, Sasha saw that she held a green panel, marked with an 'M'.

Suddenly, the panel lit up and began to glow with multicolored lights. Sasha dropped it in shock.

"What?" 

Apparently, this was her word of the day. She quickly backed away. The glowing panel's colors turned digital, and a shape began to form. Within seconds, it revealed itself to be a small robot, similar to the ones she'd seen fighting. Only, compared to those, this one was tiny, a bit shorter than her. It was purple and white, with what looked like small guns of some sort attached to its forearms and a light purple visor sitting on its head. It didn't appear to react to her at all.

"Uh...hello?"  _'Wait a sec, why am I talking to it ?! '_

To her surprise, two glowing circles appeared on the face, and the robot turned and looked at her. Sasha froze. Those guns on its arms looked like they could do some damage. However, the little guy didn't seem all that interested, instead turning away and looking at her bike. Sasha watched as it approached the dirt bike, and its head began to spin. A white light passed over her bike, and when she looked back at the newcomer, it had changed somewhat. Now there were wheels on its back and handles behind its legs. A white stripe ran down one side.

"Weird...what'd you do?" Sasha said, not really to the robot as much as to herself. The robot turned and beeped at her. Amazingly, the girl was able to decipher what the beeps meant.

"Me? I...my name is Sasha. I'm a human," she said, cocking her head to one side. Whatever this thing was, it clearly didn't want to hurt her, and it seemed a heck of a lot more friendly than the huge mechanical bots fighting below. "What are _you_?"

Beep, click. Bleep, bleep.

"A minicon? And that would be...?"

More beeping.

"What do you mean, a transformer? You're not really helping, here."

It pointed back over the ridge. Like them

"Whoa, wait. You _know_ them? And they're called transformers? Oh gee, now it _all_ makes sense." Sasha muttered sarcastically. She sighed. "Let's start small. Do you have a name?"

I'm called Spinout it beeped in answer.

"Spinout, huh? And you're a minicon. What's that?"

A special type of robot, from-- the purple and white 'minicon' interrupted itself with frantic beeping that Sasha couldn't understand.

"What? Slow down!"

The minicon trembled and waved an arm in the air, pointing with the other at the cliff behind the girl.

"What's wron-" Sasha turned around as the wind picked up and began to tear at her clothes. A second later, the helicopter appeared over the edge and changed into a robot with a shout of "TRANSFORM!"

"HOLY HECK!" Sasha yelled. Spinout beeped in fear and dismay. The big robot was laughing. 

"Megatron, sir! I've found the minicon!!" it spoke. 

"It wants you?" Sasha asked her newfound companion. 

Yes, but I don't want to go with him! He's a Decepticon! 

"A Decepti-what?" Things were moving too fast. The helicopter-bot brought his weapons up.  

            _A/N Oh boy, Sasha and Spinout are in trouble. Will they escape? _

_            ........................You'll just have to wait and find out, won't you? ^_^ _

            _Sasha: Was that supposed to be a cliffie?  
            SIA: Yes............_

_Sasha: Because it wasn't a very good one.   
SIA: Oh, zip it. I'm new at this, okay?   
            _

_Liked it? Hated it? Click the purple thingy and tell me, alright?_

              
            


	2. Rescue

_A/N Dear Primus, people actually *like* this!!! *does happy dance* Thank you, Bloodsabre, Blue eyed Broken winged angel, Moonwalker, CodeRed 73,  Zeheria, and Ashana! You guys really made my day^^_

_Now, on with the story! _

Disclaimer: _If you think I own TF: Armada, then you're crazier than me. If that's possible…_

The helicopter was bringing his weapons to bear. Without thinking, Sasha threw herself to the side. A torrent of lasers exploded where she'd been standing. Spinout pulled her to her feet. Looking back, the girl saw a charred hunk of metal that looked like a well-toasted half of a dirt bike.

"Crap! My bike!" she groaned, "I hope you're paying for that, you jerk!"

Now the copter turned to face her.

"Why can't I ever keep my mouth shut?" the human said to herself, and looked for something, anything, to throw at the robot. Grabbing a rock, she hurled it with all her strength. It bounced off the robot's nose.

"OW!" It cried, "Why you little..." The lasers began to glow again. Sasha looked around for another rock. Though with lasers that could roast her dirt bike, she really didn't she could hold it off very long with rocks. A beeping cut through her racing thoughts. Sasha turned back to Spinout, who was calling to her.

Over here! he beeped, and somehow folded himself into a dirt bike.

"How--?" Sasha began.

Forget it! Just get on, you idiot! Spinout yelled, or what sounded like yelling. 

Sasha took one more look at the hulking figure behind her and ran towards the minicon-turned-dirt bike. Climbing on, she gasped, "I hope you're fast! And watch who you're calling idiot, you!" 

            Without answering, the minicon took off, with Sasha clinging on for dear life. The helicopter fired after them.

"Cyclonus, what are you doing, you imbecile! You'll destroy the minicon!" A voice yelled over his comlink.

"Uh, sorry, sir!" He said, ceasing to fire and chasing after the escaping duo.

Sasha clung to Spinout's handlebars as best she could. The minicon was apparently driving…though it rather disturbed her to think that the bike was driving itself. Then again, a pilot-less helicopter was gunning them down…

"Why the heck do they want you, anyway?!" Sasha cried over the laser fire. The big robot had ceased to fire _at_ them, and was now blowing up the landscape around them, trying to trap the two.

My kind are used by the larger Transformers--like the moron shooting at us--to increase their power! It's a long story, and one I don't think I've got time to tell right now Spinout punctuated his statement by swerving first left, then right, to avoid blasts that would've reduced him to scrap.

"Can't you go any faster?" his passenger yelled as yet another flash of red zipped by.

I'm in overdrive as it is!!

"Then how about I drive?" Sasha asked, changing her hold so that she could grip the handles properly, instead of just barely hanging on. Fortunately, all the controls seemed to be the same as what she was used to. Sasha veered right, the minicon-bike almost parallel to the ground. A second flash detonated right in front of the pair, shattering the ground and sending both human and minicon flying. Spinout changed back into a robot, his green optics flickering before they winked out.

Sasha picked herself up off the ground. '_That's the fifth time I've hit the ground within three hours. Man, this is **so** not my day.'_ A familiar laughter from the air caught her attention. "Oh crap."

"Ha ha ha! That minicon is mine!" Cyclonus laughed, hovering overhead.

Spinout's optics lit up again as he came back online.

That's the last time I let _you_ drive. Ouch He finally looked up and saw Cyclonus. Oh, not good

"Ya think?!" Sasha muttered.

Suddenly, another blast came from the side, smashing into one of Cyclonus's helicopter blades and destroying it. "Oh no!" he wailed as he plummeted to the ground and crashed.

            Sasha blinked. "Dude, where'd that come from?" she asked. Then she yelped as a giant hand descended and she was lifted off her feet.  

"Hey! HEY! Help!"

            The robot that had picked her up had a red visor hiding his optics, and was blue, white, and red. Sasha realized he must've been the SUV she'd seen before. 

Suddenly emboldened, Sasha gave the robot her darkest glare and began to struggle and squirm in his hand. 

"Put me down! Right now!!" she demanded.

The robot smiled in amusement. "What are you doing here? Stop moving around, or I might drop you," he warned.

Sasha glanced down and immediately saw his point. She definitely wouldn't be walking around if she fell from this height, if she even survived the plummet to the ground, which now seemed very far away. As soon as she stopped trying to free herself, the former SUV opened his hand to let her stand on it. He bent down on one knee and reached down with his other arm, which had lacked a hand, Sasha noticed, and had a weapon in place of it.  Spinout climbed up onto the weapon, and the taller robot straightened, bringing his two limbs together so the minicon could join his friend.

"Hey, are you all right?" the girl asked, looking at her friend. One of his shoulders looked damaged.

Blew out my back tire. I can't drive till it's fixed the minicon explained.

"Ouch," Sasha winced, before looking at the taller robot again. "So…was it you who blasted that copter off our tails?" she asked. Her 'captor' nodded.

"Yes. I'm Red Alert," he introduced himself.

"Oh, um, I'm Sasha. And this guy says his name's Spinout," Sasha said, jerking her thumb towards said minicon. Spinout beeped softly.

"So he must have been the minicon we picked up on radar," Red Alert said, "Where did you find him?"

"Back that way, near the cliff," Sasha said, pointing, "But why do you need him, anyway? That helicopter--"

Cyclonus

"Wha-?"  
            His name's Cyclonus. He's a Decepticon. That's why he was firing on us

"Oh...okay..." Sasha said, having lost her train of thought. She looked up at Red Alert again and her eyes fell on the red marking on his chest. _'That's the same symbol the semi back there had.'_ "Hey, what's that?" she asked, pointing to the symbol.

"That's the symbol of the Autobots, my faction."

"So, the red is Autobots, and the purple is Decepticons. Okay, I follow. So, um, what are you going to do with us now?" Sasha said, wincing at how cliché that sounded.

"I've got to get back to the rest of my team."

"And then? What about Spinout?"

"That's up to Optimus," Red Alert explained, setting the girl and her minicon friend on the ground.

"Who's Optimus?" Sasha wanted to know.

"You'll see," the mech said, much to Sasha's annoyance. He took a step back and yelled "Transform!", changing back into an SUV.

Sasha gave a low whistle. "Cool. Can you all do that?"

"Yes. Get in," the newly transformed medic instructed.

Sasha glanced at Spinout, who nodded. We do need a ride

"Point taken," she said, "Oh, wait! Can you take my bike as well? I know it's pretty much totaled, but...I might be able to get it fixed."

"You can put it in the back," Red Alert told her.

"Thanks. It's back that way a bit, where I found Spinout, " Sasha said, climbing into Red Alert's cab. Spinout followed.

"Red Alert here. I've found the minicon, sir," Red Alert spoke over his radio.

"Good work, Red Alert. We'll meet you at the warp point," came the answer.

Sasha reached for the seatbelt and they drove off.

_A/N YAY! Another chapter. So, Cyclonus got slagged, Red Alert picked up a couple of hitchhikers, and now Sasha gets to me the Autobots. Now what?_

Sasha: You're the author! Don't you know?

SIA: …Am I supposed to?

Sasha: We're doomed. No question, we're definitely doomed.

Spinout: No comment

SIA: Oh well, we'll all find out next chapter. And reviews would help that next chapter get up soon^^  
Thanks. Oh, and does anyone know how to do spacing and italics correctly on FF.net? I keep trying, but it's a fifty-fifty chance it'll work, you know? Like now, as you can see. Any help or advice would be much appreciated. And as always, flames, comments, critisms are welcome.

See ya!


	3. Meet and Greet

_A/N I'm back again!_

_Sasha: *mock scream* NOOOOOO!_

SIA: _ Ha ha. Anyway, here is the third chapter. I'm so happy that people actually like this^^ Oh, and CodeRed 73, thanks so much for pointing out my mistake in Chapter 2! Yes, you were right, Red has only one actual hand. Whoops. I went back and re-wrote that little bit, so it's fixed now. *sweatdrop* I can't believe I went and forgot about Red Alert's hand. Just goes to show what happens when writing at 12:00 or later at night, I guess…

Yami Bakura (muse): No, that just goes to show what happens when you've got SilverIceAngel as your auth—*gets thwacked* OW!

_Saria: *standing behind him, holding SIA's Paper-Fan-Of-Doom*_

_SIA: Thank you  
            Saria: ^_^ No problem_

Okay! Enough with the pointless backstage stuff! On with the fic! 

**Disclaimer**: *sigh* Been here, done this. THEY. ARE. NOT. MINE. The only characters I own are Sasha, Saria, and Spinout , okay? Okay.

After driving for a little while, Sasha saw more robots come into view, waiting for them. "Uh, I take that's your team, the, um..."

Autobots Spinout supplied.

"I knew that," Sasha said hastily.

Spinout made several beeping sounds, which sounded suspiciously like laughter. Red Alert stopped in front of the rest of the bots.

"End of the line, you two," he said, opening his door for them.

"Thanks," Sasha answered, climbing out of the SUV. She ran around to the back and pulled out her dirt bike so Red Alert could transform back into robot mode. Sasha felt very, very small, surrounded by all these giants. "Um, hello."

"See you picked up a couple of passengers," the yellow bot said, grinning. Something in that grin made Sasha relax. At least, nobody seemed to want to hurt her. Something climbed down off the red, blue and silver Autobot. It was a little yellow robot, Spinout's size. Sasha guessed it was another of these 'minicons'. The yellow one ran over to greet Spinout. 

Sparkplug! Nice to see ya. So this is where you've been all this time, huh? Spinout said, beeping happily. Sasha couldn't understand Sparkplug's response, or the rest of their conversation. She looked back up at the bigger robots.

"Where did you come from?" The red, blue and silver Autobot asked her. Sasha recognized this as the one who had saved her from that Decepticon tank.

"She was on the cliff, where she stumbled upon the minicon," Red Alert answered for her.

"He's got THAT right," Sasha muttered, "and I've got the bruise to prove it."

The bot Red Alert had been speaking to held his hand to the ground. Sasha stepped onto it, one hand on his thumb to keep her balance as he brought her up to eye level. Waaaay up.

"I'm Optimus Prime, commander of the Autobots," he said.

"Nice to meet you. My name's Sasha. I was dirt biking out here, and the ground started shaking. I wanted to go back to check it out, and I saw all of you, fighting with the...er..."

Decepticons, came Spinout's input from below.

"I knew that. No, really!" Sasha insisted, when she heard Spinout's laughing beep again. "Anyway, I kind of fell down the cliff, and then that tank showed up...and I saw you fight it...him…whatever. I was trying to get out of here when I found Spinout's panel. To be honest, it was a total accident. I tripped over the panel," Here a few of the Autobots chuckled, "and it just...came to life in my hands when I picked it up. And then I got chased by that helicopter...Cyclonus."

You remembered HIS name, Spinout pointed out.

"When somebody's chasing you and trying to blow your head off, you don't tend to forget it in a hurry," Sasha retorted. "Cyclonus was chasing us," she continued, turning to face Optimus again, "Red Alert saved our behinds, and I guess you know the rest."__

"I see," Optimus said. Sasha sat down on his hand and waited. When he didn't continue, she spoke.

"So, what happens to me now?" she asked, "I don't have a way home...that jerk Cyclonus barbequed my dirt bike," she finished with a growl.

"He did do a number on it, didn't he?" A white and red bot with wings said, "Only the front half even looks like a dirt bike now."

"I noticed, " Sasha answered drily, "But I'd rather it than me."

"Well, you can come back with us, or we can take you home. In any case, your friend, Spinout, will come back with us," Optimus told her, lowering his hand again. Sasha walked over to Spinout. 

"Is that what you want?" she asked him quietly. Spinout nodded.

I've got friends with them...Sparkplug told me a lot of my buddies were found by the Autobots. Besides, it'll be better with them than with the D-cons

"D...? Oh, you mean the Decepticons. Sure, I get it." Sasha turned back to Optimus and the others. "I'd like to go with you, if that's all right. Spinout got hurt because he was helping me," she pointed to the damaged tire on the minicon's shoulder, "so I'd like to help him. Besides, if I go home now, Mom will see my dirt bike and ask questions. I've scrapped it pretty good before, " she rubbed the back of her head rather sheepishly, " but I've never gone home with it scorched like this."

"I can help you repair it," Red Alert offered.

"Really? Awesome!!" Sasha said, grinning, "Thanks!!"

"Alright, then. Let's go," Optimus said, "Sasha, you ride with me. You can put your bike in my trailer."

There were multiple cries of 'Transform!' and in the place of the robots stood a semi-truck, space shuttle, three cars, an SUV, a crane truck and a bulldozer. Sasha dragged her charred bike over to the semi-truck, who opened the back for her. Once the bike was safely stowed away (Sparkplug held it to prevent it from becoming even _more_ trashed) Sasha climbed into Optimus' cab, where Spinout was waiting. 

"So, where do you guys hang out?" Sasha asked as the truck's engine roared to life.

"Our base is near the Observatory on the mountain overlooking High Desert," Optimus explained, "You'll find a quite a few of your friends there, Spinout."

Spinout beeped happily. Can't wait! After being dormant in that panel so long, it'll be great to see my pals again.

"So, what's the deal the you minicons, anyway? And where do all of you come from? You can't have been here too long...I think I wouldn't noticed or heard something if there were a couple of bands of giant robots running around."

Slow down! One at a time! Spinout beeped at her.

Sasha glanced at the rotating steering wheel. Half of her was a little unnerved to see a truck drive itself. The other half was inwardly jumping up and down, screaming _'This is so cool!'_ "...Optimus? Where _are_ you from? And why were you and those other robots...Decepticons," she added quickly, glancing at Spinout, "fighting with each other?"

"It's a long story," Optimus said.

"So I've heard," Sasha said.

"As you guessed, we transformers aren't from this planet, but one many light years away, called Cybertron..." Optimus began. He told the story of how the Decepticons and Autobots warred on Cybertron, of the Minicons' escape, ending with what was happening now. Sasha stayed silent for the most part, speaking only to ask for clarification. When the Autobot leader finished, Sasha let out a low whistle.

"Wow. And now it's a race to get the minicons first?"

"More or less," Optimus agreed.

Spinout beeped sadly. He'd been quiet throughout the entire story. Sasha guessed the memories of the war on Cybertron and their escape weren't pleasant ones. As if he'd sensed what she was thinking, he said, I thought we'd gotten away from all that... His voice trailed off. Are we just going to be used again? Spinout asked Optimus. Sasha could hear the dismay in his voice, and her heart went out to the little robot.  
            "Not if we can help it. Once the Decepticons have been beaten, you minicons will be free," Optimus promised, "But until then, we really need your help to win the war."

"Hey, um, are we to the base yet?" Sasha asked. 

"No...but we're almost to the warp point."

"Warp point?" She blinked.

"Yes." The semi radioed the rest of his men. "Prepare to warp!" To Sasha, he added, "Hang on. Our human friends tell us that this may give you a bit of a 'head rush'."

"Um, okay..." Sasha said. Suddenly, a strange sensation over came her and the whole world seemed to be out of proportion as the cliffs disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the shadows, a small figure stood. A little device on her jacket crackled to life; she touched it and listened.

"Report," a voice spoke over the comlink.

"The Autobots have just warped out, sir."

"Very well. We're leaving."

"Yes, Lord Megatron," the hidden figure said, turning off the comlink and looking back into the distance where the Autobots had been, before turning towards a figure standing behind her. It beeped questioningly.

"We're outta here," she told him, and moments later, they were gone.

A/N A shadowy figure has entered the picture…so, how does **this** affect the story? Stay tuned to find out^^ Sasha: As usual, you need to learn better suspense-builders. SIA: -_- Everybody's a critic. 


	4. Meet and Greet 2

_A/N: Sasha: Hey, all. Most of you are probably wondering why I'm doing this, and not SilverIceAngel, right? Well--  
            *in the background* AH-CHOO!!!_

_Sasha: -_- SIA has gone and caught a wonderful cold, and SOMEONE has to do it…_

_SIA: *snuffle* And SOMB by buses are being bean and wouldn't do it._

_Spinout: Huh?_

_Sasha: Translation: 'And SOME of my muses are being mean and wouldn't do it.' _

SIA: *nods* Thanks Sasha ^^

Sasha: No prob'. Just keep those lovely cold germs on the *other* side of the room.

SIA: *sulk*

Spinout: Well, let's go!

**Disclaimer: **_I'm gonna stop saying this, because I hope by now it's obvious that I don't own TF: Armada. I do own Sasha, Saria, and Spinout. We all know this, right? Good.._

Multicolored lights raced outside of Optimus's windows. Sasha felt lightheaded, her body all tingly, as if every muscle were asleep. Then, just as quickly as it started, everything slammed back into reality. Sasha shook her head.

"Whoa."

"You all right?" Optimus asked.

Sasha grinned. "Can we do that again?!" she laughed. Spinout shook his head and dragged her out of the Autobot leader's cab.

I haven't even known you a day, and I think I already know you too well.  
            "What's that supposed to mean?" Sasha demanded, watching Sparkplug drag her bike out so his leader could transform.

Optimus, now in robot mode, shook his head, then turned to the rest of his team. "Red Alert, take our new friend here to the repair bay; that shoulder needs to be repaired."

"Yes sir," Red Alert replied, moving towards Spinout. Just then, a small clammer came from the door, and three kids ran out, followed by three minicons. Sasha estimated the kids to be a couple years younger than her.

"Hey guys! Did you get the minicon?" the brown skinned boy said. The minicon behind him beeped and waved to Spinout.

"Popular, aren't you?" Sasha said. 

"Hey, who's that?" The boy in the blue shirt asked.  
            "Uh, my name's Sasha. Sasha Vione."

"I'm Rad," the blue-shirt boy replied, "This is Carlos and Alexis." He indicated the other boy and a brown haired girl standing with him.

"How'd you get caught up in this?" Alexis wanted to know.

"I found Spinout, was attacked by a deranged helicopter, and got picked up by these guys. Not bad for a day's work, hmm?" Sasha said with a grin, "Definitely not something I expected to happen on a harmless dirt bike ride."

"Cool," Carlos said, "Hey, check it out." He pointed to where Spinout out and the other minicon's were beeping at making gestures at each other. 

"The blue one with the white optics is Highwire, Rad's partner," Alexis explained, "the orange one is Sureshock, my partner and--"  
            "And Grindor's my pal," Carlos finished.

Sasha grinned again, but her smile faded when she noticed Spinout's shoulder begin spark. The minicon gripped it with the opposite hand. Highwire looked at it and beeped.

"He says that looks pretty painful," Rad translated.

I could have told you THAT Spinout answered. 

Red Alert moved forward and picked Spinout up. "Let's get you fixed up," he said, turning. The other Autobots moved off as well. Sasha looked at the humans.

"Uh, I'll see you later. I want to go with them. Besides, Red Alert said he'd look at my bike."

"_That's_ what that is?" Carlos said, pointing to Sasha's bike, "I couldn't tell."

Sasha gave him a glare. "So everyone keeps pointing out," she muttered.  
            "Sasha, I want to speak with you later, once Spinout's shoulder is repaired."

"Oh, okay." Sasha said. 

Alexis put a hand on her shoulder. "C'mon, I'll show you where the Med bay is." She grinned. "It's nice to have another girl around," she added as they walked away.

Optimus watched them go, then looked down at Rad and Carlos. "How long have you been here?"

"Oh, we got here about an hour ago. We would've come right after school but," Rad rubbed the back of his head with one hand, "Carlos and I got detention. Alexis decided to wait for us, so we were a little late. When we got here, we found nobody around, saw the location on the screen, and figured you guys must've gone after a new minicon."

"What about the new girl, Sasha? Can she stay here?" Carlos asked.

"I don't know..." Optimus said. To be honest, he wanted to avoid getting any more humans involved in this war, but it seemed like it couldn't be helped. "We'll see after I talk with her." He left for the command center. Carlos left to find Billy and Fred. Rad hesitated for a moment, then headed off towards the repair bay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sasha watched as Red Alert worked on Spinout's shoulder. For such a huge robot, he was gentle. Spinout never even flinched as Red Alert tweaked various wires and patched this or that.

"How did you run into the Autobots?" Alexis asked.  
            Sasha looked over at her. "To be blunt? Spinout and I were about to become scrap, and Red Alert blasted Cyclonus off our tail. Lousy helicopter, "she muttered.

Red Alert put away the tool he'd been using. "Finished. Luckily he only hit your shoulder," he told the minicon, "The shot just missed your main circuits."

Sasha walked over to her friend. "How do you feel?"

Good as new. Red's an expert Spinout beeped. 

A robot named Hot Shot, whom Sasha recognized as the one who had grinned at her before, had brought her bike to the bay a little while ago. "If you leave your bike here, I can have it repaired in no time, " Red Alert said. 

Sasha grinned. "Thanks." She looked at Spinout again, and felt guilty.

"Thank you. You saved my life, Spinout, " she said, "I'm sorry. You got hit because you were weighted down by carrying me."

Don't worry about it. We made a pretty good team. That was a nice shot with the rock he added, You've got good aim

"Unfortunately for Cyclonus."

Spinout laughed, and held out a hand. Partners?

Sasha took it. "You bet."

Alexis grinned. "Hey, Optimus wanted to see you. His quarters are down the hall to your left. Once you're done, come back here. I'll show you around, " she offered. 

Sasha gave her a thumbs up. "Coming, Spinout?"

Yup Spinout looked at the medic standing behind him. Thanks, Red Alert

"No problem."

Sasha beckoned to her minicon. "Let's go find Optimus."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Optimus was in his room, tapping away at a keyboard, when his audios picked up a timid tapping on the door.

"Enter."

The door slid aside to reveal Sasha and Spinout. Optimus closed whatever he was working on and turned to face them.

"How's the shoulder, Spinout?"

Better than before, thank you, Optimus sir.

"You wanted to speak to me?" Sasha said. Spinout elbowed her. Patience wasn't always her strong point.

"Yes." Optimus nodded, holding his hand down for her again. Both she and Spinout climbed on to it, and Optimus set them on the desk he'd been working at. Sasha sat down cross-legged.

"I've told you the story of our war with the Decepticons," Optimus began, "And you saw today how dangerous they can be. They will do anything to get the minicons. Because the minicon ship landed here, your planet has become a new battleground for us. If at all possible, I'd like to avoid getting humans tangled up in this at all, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. The minicons were reawakened by the kids, and I'm grateful for their help," he added, "but it gets dangerous. You saw our battle today. The two of you were lucky."

Spinout beeped in agreement.

"I'd like you, Spinout, to stay with us, where it's safe. If you leave, I can promise you that the Decepticons will hunt you down. Sasha, what you do is up to you. If you go home, I'll have to ask you to promise not to reveal the fact that we're here or the location of the base to anyone. It would be too risky."

Sasha stood up. "I understand. Don't worry, Optimus, I won't say a word to anybody. Besides, who'd believe me if I did?" she said with a grin. "However," she added seriously, "I'd also like to stay and help you guys out. I heard what you said," Sasha spoke quickly, before Optimus could say anything, "It isn't the safest thing to do; maybe not the smartest either. I'm not known for doing the smart thing. But Spinout's my friend, and I don't want to leave him. And I think I like you guys, " she said, remembering Hotshot's grin when she'd first saw the 'Bots, Red Alert's gentle hands when fixing Spinout, and Optimus's calm voice. "I want to help. And you guys _did _save my life. Please, Optimus, can I help?"  
            Optimus watched the young human. Her request was earnest, and he didn't want to separate her from her minicon friend if he could help it. It was obvious that Spinout had become attached to the girl. Still, there were too many humans involved already...

Spinout looked up at the Autobot leader. You don't have to worry about her safety, Optimus. I'll do everything I can to protect her Sasha looked at Spinout, rather touched. One of his optics flickered in what was unmistakably a wink. She looked at Optimus again.

"Alright," he said finally, "you can help us. Just be careful."

Sasha couldn't help it; she jumped up with a whoop. "Alright!! Thanks, Optimus!"

Optimus smiled behind his faceplate. Inwardly, he admitted he probably couldn't have said no if he'd wanted too. A willing volunteer was welcome.

Sasha smiled at Spinout. "Alexis said she'd show us around, and I'd like to meet the others. Let's go!" she said, taking a step forward, then remembered she was on a desk taller than a house. Spinout's hand zipped out and snagged her by the back of her jacket before she fell off.

Please, don't make him rethink his decision before you even get out of his office Spinout bleeped exasperatedly.

"Eh heh...oops," Sasha said. She waited till Optimus lowered them both to the ground, then waved to the Autobot Leader once more, and left the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexis and Rad showed Sasha around the base. Spinout left them at some point to go see the other minicons, after sternly telling Sasha to stay out of trouble.

"What school do you go to?" Rad wanted to know.

"High Desert High School," Sasha answered, "Grade 10."

"That's where I've seen you!" he said, "You were in our school last year...the junior high."

"Yup," she said.

"...And this is the control room," Alexis was saying. Sasha looked at what Alexis was talking about and her mouth fell open a bit. It was huge; a room complied almost entirely of computers, most of which dwarfed her.

"Whenever a new minicon is found, the location is pinpointed from here."

"Nice," Sasha said, then looked up at the three bots in the room, "Hey."

"Sasha, this is Jetfire," Alexis said, indicating the white and red bot who'd spoken to her before, "Smokescreen," the orange bot with a crane over one shoulder, "and Sideswipe," a bot with optics that almost looked like sunglasses. "You already know Hot Shot."

"Hi," Sasha said, then looked over where a smaller, human sized terminal sat. "Hey, can I try that?" she asked, looking at the others. 

Jetfire shrugged. "Go ahead, but there probably won't be much you can get into. We had a problem or two with viruses, and everything's pretty much encrypted..." He trailed off as Sasha made her way over to the computer and started tapping away. Moments later, numbers scrolled across the screen.

"Oh wow, I've never seen a system like this before," she said, looking at the screen, "The firewall is good...code is familiar…I could have fun with something like this." She turned and noticed everyone was staring at her. "What?"

Sideswipe spoke first. "How did you get into the system? Like Jetfire said, everything's locked down."

"Oh, that. Maybe I should've said this before, but I've got some skills for hacking into things." She shrugged, "I like a challenge, so I play around with codes and stuff, and I examine firewalls and viruses and stuff in my spare time." She turned back to the computer, clicked away some more and the screen went blank.

"So, you just hacked into our computers?" Smokescreen said pointedly.  
            Sasha grinned. "Uh, yeah...sorry about that. I didn't touch anything. Not that you'd notice if I did. One of my specialties is hiding my tracks," she said confidently.

"It might have been better to point that out beforehand," Optimus added, coming into the room. Spinout was following him.

Sasha blushed. "I'm sorry. I won't touch it again."

"I was speaking to Red Alert, he said it would take no time at all to repair your bike."

"Woo hoo!" Sasha cheered, " Thank Red Alert for me."

You won't really need it, not with me around anyway Spinout told her.

Rad's watch sounded. Sasha glanced at him. "What time is it, anyway?"

The boy looked at his watch. "Nine o'clock"

Sasha looked horrified. "Nine o'clock?! Oh man, I'm dead meat! I told Mom I'd be home an hour and a half ago!" She looked up at her new friends, "Sorry, but I seriously gotta go. My mother's gonna kill me...she's probably wondering where the heck I am."

"What about your bike?" Hot Shot said, "Won't she notice you don't have it?"

Sasha thought for a minute. "I'll tell her I got a flat tire and left it at Saria's."

"Who's Saria?" Alexis wanted to know.

"My best friend. I was dirt biking with her today."

"You didn't mention you were with anyone else," Optimus said. He was reminding Sasha of a parent.

"I didn't think it was important. She left before I saw you guys or found Spinout," she explained, "If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, Optimus, then you don't have to worry. Saria didn't see anything. She wasn't even there."

"I see. You better get home, if your mother will be worried. You kids should go home as well," Optimus told Rad and Alexis.

"All right," Alexis said, "Hey, Sasha, come by the junior high after school. We can ride to the base together."

"Sure," Sasha agreed. "See you guys tomorrow, then."

Hot Shot stepped forward. "I can give you a lift home," he offered.

"Great! Thanks," she grinned. Sasha waved to the other humans and Autobots before following Hot Shot out of the room.

After the two had left, Jetfire turned to look at Optimus. "Do you think she's right about her friend? What if this Saria hung around afterwards and saw us?"

"Sasha sounded sure that she was alone. We'll have to trust her judgment," Optimus said.

              
            A/N: _Sorry if this is moving slowly. I'll try to speed it up._

_Sasha: Why did I almost fall off a desk?_

_SIA: Because you're you, I'm the author, and I said so. Now get back in there *indicates Armada universe*_

_Sasha: Hmmph. *mumbles something about evil, insane authors*_

_Spinout: I don't think you should say that around somebody who kinda holds controls your existence..._

_Sasha: Her? Control me?_

_SIA: *glares at Sasha* *lightbulb* *types something into her laptop*_

_Sasha: *is suddenly suspended over a cage of ravenous wolves...and the rope is breaking* O_O_

_Spinout: *beeps nervously*_

_SIA: Don't worry...I'll write her out of there before the rope breaks. Can't kill off my own character you know...well, at least, not yet *evil grin*_

_Spinout: *slowly edges away from SIA *_

_Sasha: Heeeeelp!!! Alright, I'm sorry, already!_

_SIA: ^_^ Now, was that so hard? *starts to type something into her laptop*_

_*Power Outage*_

_SIA: O_o Uh oh..._

_Sasha: O_O_

_Spinout: O_O_

_*down in SIA 's basement*_

_Cyclonus: *holding a fuse from SilverIce's fusebox* HA! That's for hitting me in the nose with a rock, brat!    _

_Sasha: *is being chased around the cage by wolves* HEEEELP!!!_

_SIA: Right, well, I'll try to find a light so I can write Sasha away from the wolves, get Cyclonus the heck outta my basement, and start the next chapter of this fic._

            __


	5. Minicon alert!

A/N: Yami Bakura: Another chapter? Already? Okay ,who are you, and what have you done with the REAL SIA?  
SIA: *crying* I can't believe they finished it!   
Jetfire *who just happened to stop by*: Huh?

SIA: I saw LOTR Return of the King a few nights ago…I can't believe that's the last film! And the ending was so emotional! *wails and hugs a Legolas plushie*

_Sparkplug *Another visitor*: *ackwardly patting SIA's head*  There there…You can still read your books to your heart's content…and you can get the movie to watch at home…_

_Yami B: Which she'll make us all watch WITH her…     SIA: I just can't believe that awesome adventure is finished! After all that…it's just, done!_

_Jetfire: Oooookay…*backs away*_

Yami B: Hey, we have to live with her.   
Sparkplug: Since she's indisposed, can I say it?  
All: *shrug*

Sparkplug: On with the story!

The next morning, an alarm clock roused Sasha from her comfortable cocoon of blankets. "Oh man, did I ever have a weird dream last night," she muttered sleepily, rubbing her eyes and stumbling into the bathroom for a shower. Of all the things she might be, the thing Sasha was NOT was a morning person. 15 minutes later, dressed in a black tank top and blue jeans, Sasha headed down to the kitchen for breakfast.

"You were out rather late last night, Sasha," her mother said after she bade her daughter good morning. 

"I…was?" she asked cautiously. She had late coming home in her dream, too. Her mother gave her a Look.

"Yes, you were," she said patiently, "I've told you before I don't want you out on that dirt bike after nine. And why on earth did you leave it at Saria's?"

Sasha choked. _'I…really left it at Saria's?' _She glanced down at her arms and she could see a bunch of scrapes and tiny cuts…like the ones the flying pieces of rock had left as a helicopter tried to blast her and a certain minicon out of existence._ 'I wasn't dreaming!' _Memory of the previous day returned to her sleep-clouded mind, and quickly, Sasha said, "Uh…I blew out my back tire again. Saria's place was closer, so she said I could leave it there. I'm, um, somebody's gonna fix it for me."

"Really? I thought you let no one but yourself touch that bike."

"I don't have what I need to repair the tire…I think I wrecked a bunch of the spokes, too. Besides, it's a friend fixing it for me, so I'll let it go." Grabbing a piece of toast off the plate, Sasha returned to her room before her mom could ask any more questions. 

Sifting through papers on her desk, Sasha snatched up her essay, which she had finished at midnight the night before, and looked around for the rest of her stuff. As she reached for her backpack, her eyes fell on a picture sitting on her bedside table. In it were three people: a dark haired man, a blonde haired woman, and a little blonde haired girl with blue eyes, about 4 years old. The woman's arms were around the child, and little girl was hugging a stuffed rabbit…the same one that now sat on Sasha's bed. The picture was of her and her parents…before the divorce. Now her father lived a half hour drive away. He wasn't even home right now…his job had him working overseas, and before that, he'd been on a business trip…Sasha only saw him a couple of times a month, but he emailed regularly and called whenever he could. 

Swinging her backpack onto her shoulder, Sasha hugged her mother goodbye. She slowed as she passed the closet, then reached in and grabbed her helmet and goggles from within. Sasha thrust them into her bag, picked up her binder and dashed out the door, certain to be on time, something that occurred less than she would like.

Rad absently tapped his pencil on his textbook, willing the bell to ring. A glance to the left revealed Carlos, who had his head turned to the window, earning him a disapproving glare from Alexis. Looking back up at the blackboard, Rad tried to focus on the lesson again. Just then, the signal of their freedom rang shrilly. All the kids gathered up their things and left.

Alexis was lecturing Carlos about his lack of attention in class (while Rad tried to defend his friend without incurring the girl's wrath upon himself) when all three were hailed by soft beeping. The kids turned to see a motor scooter, skateboard and BMX bike moving towards them, followed by a dirt bike.

Rad sighed. "You guys! You know you're supposed to wait till we come get you."

Highwire beeped a little indignantly, It was his idea , and twisted his handles towards Spinout.

So? I'm new to this. Where's Sasha? Spinout asked.

"Oh yeah, that's right! What are we gonna do about her? We've got one vehicle too many," Carlos said, "And we can't exactly send a riderless dirt bike to get her..."

"I'll run over to the high school and find her," Rad offered.

"No need," called a voice, " I'm here." Sasha walked up to the group, headphones about her neck and helmet under her arm. She grinned as Spinout beeped happily. "I'm glad to see you too, pal. Waiting long?"

"Nah," Rad told her. Spinout apparently disagreed.

"So, ready to go?" Alexis asked, "We'll stick to the back way, since I don't think you're allowed to ride a dirt bike on the main road."

"That's only if they catch you," Sasha answered, tossing her braid back and smirking. She laughed as all of the humans stared at her. "Well? Let's go!!!"

A short while later, the group arrived at the Autobot base. It only took a short while, because they _had_ stuck to the main road for the most part, with a bit of off road when they hit traffic.

Sasha wandered around the base, Spinout at her side, looking for something to do. Alexis had told her things got kind of crazy around here sometimes, but right now, it was quiet and dull and...a bit boring.

Entering yet another room, the girl and minicon saw Red Alert hunched over a machine of some sort, fussing with the wiring and muttering to himself. He was obviously very absorbed in whatever he was doing, because when Sasha called "What'cha doin', Red Alert?" he quite visibly jumped. Sasha wisely restrained herself from laughing, but couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. "Sorry," she apologized, "I didn't mean to startle you. What are you up to?"

"The wiring in this section controls the electricity for a majority of the base, and it's been on the fritz lately. I'm trying to pinpoint the problem," the medic explained.

"Can I watch?" Sasha asked, "I'm better with computers and codes, but I'm interested in how electronics work...it helps when I need to go into something manually."

"I don't see why not." The science officer picked both of them up gently and set them on a ledge beside him.

Sasha watched for a while, trying her best not to pester the Autobot medic with too many questions. Spinout vanished after a while, gone, Sasha suspected, to hang out with the other minicons. After a bit, Sasha left as well, crawling over the ledge to the walkway above. Red Alert was still immersed in his work; he didn't notice as the human took her leave and resumed her wandering.

Amazingly enough, Sasha managed to remember and find her way to the training room, where she saw Scavenger training Hot Shot. The yellow bot was very good, she thought, but nothing seemed to please Scavenger. Hot Shot's partner, Jolt, was standing nearby, watching. Sasha's eyes roamed around the room, coming to a spot where there were a bunch of targets set up. A shooting area. The blonde haired girl grinned...that kinda looked like fun.

Making her way over to the targets, she glanced around and saw a minicon-sized gun nearby. Jolt was watching her, she noticed.

"Hey...can I try that?"

Jolt beeped at her. Sasha understood enough minicon-speak to know a 'go ahead' when she heard one.  Picking up the weapon, she held it and examined it. It felt a bit heavy in her hand, but not really awkward. Raising the gun to one of the targets, she shut her left eye and fired.

'Ping' 

The laser shot went to the left of the target, just dinging the edge and leaving a scorch mark on the wall.

"Aw, man! Not even close!"

She fired again and again.

'Ping' Too far right now.

'Ding' Way too low.

'Ding' 'Ping'

What _are_ you aiming at? I take it back, your shot with the rock was a fluke

Sasha glared at the speaker, who was none other than Spinout. He was leaning against a crate, watching her.

"How long have you been standing there?" Sasha demanded. Her minicon partner shrugged.

Five minutes, maybe? You've obviously never handled a gun before he speculated.

"What was you're first clue? I've got better aim when I'm ticked," Sasha insisted, trying to defend herself.

Obviously that doesn't affect your weapons handling

"Hmmph," Sasha muttered, crossing her arms across her chest, "Okay, so I'm not exactly a markswoman..."

"Try aiming above the target," another voice said.

"Huh?" 

Sasha looked up to see Scavenger, watching Hot Shot work on his own. The old mercenary didn't look at her, but said again, "Aim a bit higher than you think your target is. And focus on what you're shooting, not on what you're doing. Your body will do what it's supposed to. Just let it."

Sasha looked from the target to Scavenger and back, then shrugged, deciding she had nothing to lose. Doing as she'd been told, the girl picked a spot just above the bulls-eye and focused only on that spot. Her weapon came up as she shut her left eye again.

'PING!' A clean shot, straight through the target.

Sasha blinked, then grinned.

Scavenger nodded, still not smiling. "There, see?"

Bet you can't hit it again Spinout challenged, but Sasha had her aim now. Again she fired, and again the shot was clean. Three more shots, until the target shattered. She tossed the gun from hand to hand. "Best seven out of ten?"

Nah, I'm convinced Spinout told her.

"Thanks, Scavenger..." Sasha began to say, but noticed he had moved across the room to work with Hot Shot again. She shrugged. Just then, an alarm began to sound. Scavenger and Hot Shot immediately stopped what they were doing and headed for the door.

"What's that?" Sasha shouted at them over the noise. Hot Shot bent down and picked her up before following Scavenger. Spinout climbed up on his hand as well.

"It's the minicon alarm. Another one has woken up," the yellow mech explained as he hurried to the control room.

Moments later, all of the group, including the humans, were assembled in the control room. A picture of a dense forest appeared on screen.

"Red Alert?" Optimus began, but the medic was ahead of him.

"I've got it, sir. The minicon signal is coming from a rainforest in this area." A signal pulsed over Brazil.

"Aw man, not more trees!" Hot Shot groaned. Carlos snickered quietly.

"Autobots, let's move out!" Optimus commanded. The group proceeded to the warp gate. Sasha followed the other humans, and jumped when she felt heat under her feet. In moments, she was dressed in an orange suit as well.

"Whoa..." she muttered, "Imagine the time I could save in the morning with one of these!...Did it have to be _orange_, though?" Suddenly, she realized she still had the minicon weapon in her hand. The girl started to put it down, but Spinout stayed her hand.

Keep it...It might come in handy

The human shrugged, "Whatever you say, " and looked for a place to put the blaster, finding it fit perfectly into the belt on her suit, resting at her back. Alexis yelled at her to hurry up, and both minicon and human ran after the others. 

At the warp gate, Sasha looked around at the different vehicles. "Um...who do we go with?" she asked Spinout, who shrugged.

"Sasha, you and Spinout go with Hot Shot. Hot Shot, keep an eye on them," Prime said.

"Yes sir!" Hot Shot answered, then transformed and opened his door. Sasha hopped in, Spinout sitting in the passenger seat. The human noticed her partner was in a rather agitated mood.

"What's up with you?"

I wanna find that minicon...I miss a lot of my friends he answered, I haven't seen most of them in...a looooooong time

"Well, don't you worry, Spinout, we'll find it," Hot Shot said.

The coordinates were imputed and the countdown started.

"Ready in three...two...one...LAUNCH!" 

Sasha felt the tingly, topsy-turvy feeling again and got a rather hyper grin on her face.

"Whoo! Let's rock and roll!" she cheered. Spinout gave her a thumbs up.

"I hear ya, Sash'. Let's go!" the yellow transformer cried as they warped out.

A/N: As always, please R&R! *sniff* Sparkplug: *hands her a tissue* 

_SIA: Thanks, Sparky.  
Sparkplug: For the last time, enough with the nickname!!!_


	6. Trees Galore, and the search begins

A/N: I am SO sorry I couldn't update sooner! It seems like I've hardly any time to write any more. The evil things known as exams *thunder crash* are on the horizon, but my teachers seem to think that means it would be an excellent time to assign us some essays, projects, assignments.and a certain Phys Ed teacher is REALLY getting on my nerves. Ugh. Well, you didn't come here to listen to me rant. So, here is chapter 6!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Moments after the Autobots departed from the base, they emerged from the blinding colors of warping. Sasha waited for the lightheaded feeling to vanish, then she opened Hot Shot's door and stepped out.  
  
Warm, moist, rainforest air greeted her, as did a wall of trees. Most were taller than even the Autobots, their leaves scraping the clouds. The girl caught herself staring for a few minutes. They seemed to go on forever...  
  
Spinout tugged on his partner's hand.   
  
"Sash'! C'mere!" Sasha turned and saw Carlos waving at her. Nodding to Spinout, she hurried over to join the rest.  
  
All of the 'Bots had transformed, and stood among the trees. Carlos, Alexis and Rad were talking to Optimus as Sasha joined them.  
  
"Kids, you'll be able to move around here easier than we will. I want you to keep an eye out for the minicon. The signal wasn't very strong, but it's definitely here," the commander was saying.  
  
"You got it, Optimus!" Rad said.  
  
"We need someone to do a recon from the air. That's you, Jetfire," Prime continued.  
  
"Yessir" was the reply.  
  
" The rest of you, spread out and search. The signal was weak, so it's possible the Decepticons didn't detect it, but stay alert. Move out!"  
  
Highwire, Sureshock and Grindor switched to their vehicle modes, and Rad, Carlos and Alexis hopped on. Sasha glanced down at Spinout, who followed suit and became a dirt bike. Sasha had left her helmet at the base, she remembered now, but tucked in her pocket was a pair of goggles, which she slipped over her head, so they rested on top. Slipping out of the orange jacket so she was left with just her tank top, the older girl tied it about her waist and mounted Spinout. All four kids drove off into the trees.  
  
Hot Shot grumbled as he walked alongside Red Alert, trying to keep the trees' many branches out of his face and resisting the urge to level a few. Sure, they were nice to look at and they helped the planet, but did there have to be so many?  
  
A stray branch flipped down and smacked him across the cheek. "Hey!" he shouted in annoyance.  
  
"Oh, sorry, Hot Shot," Red Alert called from ahead, "That one got away from me." The medic was trying to keep the smile that kept threatening to appear from his face, amused by Hot Shot's frustration. The younger Autobot never got on well with the trees. They were a bit in the way, at their height, Red allowed, but he'd resolved to just deal with it and focus on the task at hand.  
  
However, the almost-smile was not lost on Hot Shot, and he saw to it that his next footstep landed a little too close to the tree ahead, so that a few large pods of nuts 'accidentally' rained down on his companion.  
  
"HEY!"  
  
"Sorry Red," Hot Shot said, not even trying to hide his grin, "Gotta watch where you step with all these trees and stuff, huh?"  
  
"Sure," Red Alert muttered, and the two continued ahead.  
  
Sasha's grin near split her face as Spinout tore through the trees and shrubs in the rainforest. Alexis rode on her left, with Rad on the older girl's right. Carlos coasted on Grindor (A/N I'm never sure if Carlos' partner is Sureshock or Grindor, but {obviously} I'm going to go with Grindor, okay?) on Alexis' left. Laserbeak hovered overhead, while the brunette kept watch on her small video screen.  
  
"Does he see anything yet?" Rad asked, indicating the mechanical bird above.  
  
"No, nothing," Alexis told him, "But it's gotta be here somewhere."  
  
Spinout suggested. The other minicons seemed to agree, and they started up a steep incline to an outcropping in a break in the foliage. Once up there, the kids dismounted and looked around. "No good, amigos," Carlos said, "The trees are too thick even up here." Spinout transformed, and flipped his visor down. He beeped softly as data ran across the screen.  
  
"Hey, Spinout? What are you doing?" Sasha asked, curious.  
  
The violet minicon beeped back at her, looking around with his visor still down.   
  
"Oh, I get it," Sasha said, grinning suddenly, "If the minicon's waking up, it'll start to generate heat. Good idea." Spinout told them a couple minutes later, with Sasha translating for the other humans,   
  
Rad frowned. "I don't like the sound of that. Maybe we ought to get down from here..."  
  
Spinout began beeping frantically. Sasha blinked at him for a second, then it clicked. "Hit the deck!" she yelled. They all threw themselves to the ground as a red flashed passed overhead, shattering some of the rocks above them and leaving a crater in its wake. A red robot hovered in the air, before transforming into a jet and flying over the rainforest.  
  
"Who--?" Sasha began, pushing herself to her knees.  
  
"Starscream. That was a shot from his Null Laser Cannons. Believe me, if that had hit any closer, we wouldn't still be standing here talking about it," Alexis answered.  
  
"Yeah, Good call, Spinout," Rad said, giving the minicon a thumbs-up.  
  
"Uh, guys? It gets worse..." Carlos annouced. A series of blasts was heard below, and a few trees toppled. A peek over the edge revealed a tank with two sets of cannons on either side. The wind carried a familiar cackling to them. "That's Demolisher. And the one laughing has to be--"  
  
Sasha cut him off. "Cyclonus, I know. We've met," she muttered grimly. Spinout beeped in agreement. I Highwire bleeped.  
  
"Definitely," Rad answered. Without being asked, Laserbeak took off towards an area of rainforest, searching for the Autobots.  
  
"And we should probably get out of here. Like, now," Sasha said. Spinout transformed again, and the girl slipped her goggles over her eyes. "I get the feeling it may be a rough ride."  
  
Blurr came to a small clearing in the forest. He scanned the area for the minicon, but saw nothing.  
  
asked his minicon, Incinerator, from where he sat on Blurr's shoulder.  
  
" 'Fraid not." The larger transformer was about to radio the rest of his team, to let them know the minicon wasn't anyway in his area, when an explosion rocked the ground. Seconds later, gunfire pored out of the trees. Blurr immediately ducked behind one for cover. Laser fire rained down on the Autobot and minicon, and they ducked down as Cyclonus, Megatron, and the immense warship Tidel Wave appeared just over the trees.  
  
"Transform!" all three shouted, switching out of vehicle mode.  
  
"Slag! Looks like we've got company," Blurr growled. He opened a link to the rest of the Autobots. "Autobots, this is Blurr. We've got a few uninvited guests. The Decepticons just dropped in."  
  
"Gotcha. On our way," Hot Shot's voice answered.  
  
Blurr shut off the comlink, pointed his rifle around the tree and opened fire. The two Decepticons retaliated almost immediately.  
  
Up above, a space shuttle cruised over the area. He'd just gotten the message from Blurr, when sparks of red and violet began flying from one corner of the forest.  
  
"That must be it," Jetfire said. A burst of pain shot up his frame as a shot tagged him in the side. "OW! Transform!" he yelled. Taking his blaster in hand, his optics took in the space around him. "Show yourself!" The Vice Commander demanded.  
  
Another blast caught him in the back, and Jetfire whirled, firing at the spot the shot had come from. He hit nothing, but heard the sound of a jet close by. Again, he fired, and this time, his assailant appeared.  
  
"You missed! Losing your edge, Jetfire?" Thrust snickered as he came out of stealth mode.  
  
"You're gonna lose a lot more than that, Pencil-head!" The VC retorted, moving forward to engage the Decepticon tactician.  
  
Meanwhile, Blurr was quickly losing ground to the massive Tidal Wave. Cyclonus flew around, shooting at anything that moved and a couple of things that didn't, and Megatron's shots were painfully accurate.  
  
Blurr tried leaning out from his cover to shoot again, but quickly changing his mind as laser fire exploded inches away from his head and ducking back again. "Damn it! Could use some back up, here," the Autobot muttered As if on cue, he heard the roar of an engine, and Tidal Wave stumbled, as a large semi truck plowed into him. Cyclonus yelped as several shots collided with his frame, resulting in some large dents.  
  
Blurr stood and moved from his cover as Hot Shot and Red Alert came into view. Optimus transformed to join them.  
  
"Thanks, guys," Blurr nodded at the other three.  
  
"Aw, don't sweat it, " Hot Shot answered, grinning at him, "Let's just kick some Decepti-butt and send 'em back to the moon...without the minicon!" Megatron growled; how did those Autobots manage to have such impeccable timing? He radio Starscream, still in the air. "Starscream, go look for the minicon!!" he barked. "Yes sir!" Starscream replied. He barrel-rolled and took off to continue the search. Megatron nodded to Tidal wave, and yelled, "TRANSFORM AND COMBINE!" "COMBINE!" Tidal wave answered, and split apart to 'accessorize' Megatron's back and arms.  
  
Optimus detached from his trailer. "Optimus Super mode, transform!" he cried, and the trailer folded into legs, as his body became a torso, and the two joined. "Sparkplug, powerlink!" he commanded, and the small yellow minicon powerlinked onto his shoulder. The rest of the transformers were quick to powerlink as well, and the two sides faced each other. The trees shook and the ground danced as the titans clashed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
There! Sasha's first minicon mission has begun, and the party's just getting started. I'll try to have chapter 7 out on Friday.if everything cooperates. (And when does everything EVER cooperate? _) Please R&R! (And if you're reading this, you've already done half.so make me happy and review as well?) Later! 


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